Author Bio: Toni Morrison (born as Chloe Anthony Wofford) was born on February 18 1931 in Lorain, Ohio to George and Rahmah Wofford, sharecroppers from Alabama and Georgia. She is the second child of four and graduated from Lorain High School. After high school Morrison attended Howard University where she obtained a bachelor’s in English. She then got her masters at Cornell University. She worked at many historically black colleges/universities (one of which was her alma mater, Howard) and even worked for Random House (a publishing company). She later went on to marry Harold Morrison, a Jamaican architect. The couple had two children but unfortunately split in 1965. She said that after the divorce she felt free. She has published many novels among them are her first book The Bluest Eyes, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. Song of Solomon won The National Critics Circle Award and The Letters Award and Beloved won a Pulitzer Prize. She also broke history when she became the first African-American to win a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Setting and time period: Song of Solomon is set in an unknown city in Michigan, Shalimar Virginia and Danville Pennsylvania. It takes place between 1931 and 1963 (including the flashbacks)
Genre of Novel (Historical Fiction, Bildungsroman, etc): The Novel is a bildungsroman (coming of age story), an adventure and an epic. Throughout the story we see Milkman progress from an emotionally “dead” child to the flying man he is at the end. It is also categorized as magical realism.
Flight as a means of Escape- Flight is the important theme in the novel. As Jake flies away from the cotton fields he escapes slavery and goes towards freedom. Milkman describes Pilate as the only character who can fly without having to lift her feet off the ground (She is completely free from the confinements of society).
The disastrous effects of the Abandonment of women are a key theme in the novel. Hagar was abandoned by Milkman which led to her mental deterioration. Ruth Foster was abandoned by her husband, she eventually lose contact with her womanhood. Ryna was pushed to a tragic ending when her husband, Jake, left abandoned her.
Macon “Milkman” Dead- Milkman is the protagonist of the Novel. he is tall but his left leg is shorter than his right, something is wrong with him. He works with his father as a money collector. His multiple names represent his character. When he was called Macon Dead III he was emotionally “Dead”. He was stuck in the past, never looking ahead. Then when he was given the name Milkman it poked at his inability to be on his own. Like a milkman he will feed on others and never himself. Then near the end his name is symbolically changed when he was finally free, he flew. Throughout the book Milkman is a parasitic man who has little to no emotions. He does not care about others; to him they are tools to be used when needed. He changes when he begins to take responsibility (become an adult). Milkman has had multiple relationships with females. One with Hagar shows his parasitic nature but then the relationship with Sweet shows his new side, someone who shows actual emotions. This emotional transition follows the coming of age story that the novel is.
Pilate Dead- Pilate is the only strong woman in the novel. She does not need a man to be complete like the other women; all she needs is for her daughters to be happy. In the novel she is described a tall, so tall that even the men have to look up at her. When Reba’s man had hit her Pilate took a knife and almost killed him. She was sixty and the man was twenty, she is definitely different. Pilate is the only free character, she is happy with a life where she is poor. Pilate is happy being poor but also being able to do what she wants. She is a bootlegger but in a time when prohibition is outlawed she doesn’t make much money. Pilate also have one important feature, she has no naval. The lack of a belly-button signifies that Pilate is different; she is not like other people. This also shows that Pilate has had the same racism that Macon Jr. and Milkman did (if not worse). Her name is a biblical allusion to Pilate, the man who killed Jesus but it does not describe her. Due to her inability to harm others the name Pilate doesn’t suit her. Pilate is more of a moral “pilot”.
Ruth Foster-Ruth was the daughter of the only black doctor but when she got married it all changed. Ruth becomes a typical passive house wife. She loses all power and becomes a docile character. She is married to Macon Dead Jr. and is sexually deprived which leads her to breastfeed milk well past infancy (this gives him his nickname)She was said to have an intimate relationship with her father but later disproves that, due to the narration of the story it is hard to tell if she really did.
Macon Dead Jr.- Macon Jr. is a spineless, narcissistic, conniving bum. He cares only for money, so much so that people can die only if he gets their money. Like Milkman he is emotionally “dead” but there is some emotion deep down. Macon Jr. love his father, Jake. Jake was a farmer and owned a big farm in Danville. Macon Jr. wanted to be his father in this sense.
Guitar Bains- he is Milkman’s best friend, he is Milkman’s Tommy (Rugrats). He was care free and mischievous but soon becomes hateful (now he is Milkman’s Snape). He blames whites for all that is evil. In his effort to balance the scales he actually makes things worse. His last name suggests that he is a bane for both Milkman and whites. He is a member of the group “Seven Days” vigilante group.
Secondary characters (brief identifications):
Macon Dead I/Jake- he is Milkman’s grandfather. He was dropped during solomons flight and was left in the care of Heddy. He married Sing, moved to Danville and owned a farm. He died trying to protect what was his.
Freddie- he is a janitor and the town gossip.
Hagger- Hagger is Milkman’s first love. She goes insane when Milkman dumps her and eventually dies she is also Pilates granddaughter.
Reba- Reba is Pilate’s daughter. She is said to be very lucky and has a thing for abusive men.
Henry Porter (AKA R. Kelly)- Henry is the man who pulled a R. Kelly. He is a member of “Seven Days” and First Corinthians’ boyfriend.
First Corinthians- First Corinthians is Milkman’s sister. She has a relationship with Henry Porter (AKA R. Kelly)
Magdalene Dead- Lena (her nickname) is Milkman’s other sister.
Ryna- She is Jake’s mother. She was mentally unstable after Solomon left.
Solomon- he is one of the flying Africans. He is Jakes father. He dropped Jake in his flight back to Africa.
Sweet- Sweet is a prostitute who has a relation with Milkman. She receives Milkman’s love.
Singing Bird- Singing Bird is referred as Sing. She is Jakes wife. she died after giving birth to Pilate.
Notable structural, literary and stylistic techniques: Song of Solomon is written in chronological order but is filled with many flashbacks. The story is written in third person with an omniscient narrator. It includes a lot of biblical allusions and symbolism.
Symbols:
Whiteness- this symbolizes violence and death. Freddie life was ruined when a white bull killed his mother. Circe’s white employers are murderers and the white peacock causes Milkman and Guitar’s fascination with gold.
Artificial Roses- This symbolizes fake love. It is no mistake that Milkman was born after these roses fell.
Snow- Snow represents purity but its white color could foreshadow the difficulty of Milkman’s life.
Gold- Gold is the embodiment of greed. Guitar attempts to kill Milkman for gold. Gold gets Milkman and Guitar arrested.
Tone: The tone starts out neutral but becomes ominous and is finally happy.
Major conflicts (in abstract terms, with resolutions):
Man v. Self- Internal conflict occurs when Milkman is fighting with his thoughts about who he is. The conflict is resolved when he learns about Solomon and that he (Milkman) can fly.
Man v. Man- Milkman and Guitar are enemies. It is never really resolved.
Climax- In page 252 Milkman realizes that there is no gold. At this point he is unsure of what to do next.
Turning Point- In page 120 Milkman realizes that he wants to leave. Milkman needs to become his own man. This starts his quest for the gold which eventually leads to him learning about his past.
Climax- In page 337 Milkman and Guitar have their final altercation. All the suspense builds up to this point.
Resolution- In pages 303-304 Milkman realizes that he wants to know more about his history. This closes the conflict and begins the ending.
Key quotations (annotate: identify speaker, situation, and relevance--inc. page #'s):
Milkman page 165: “Deep down in that pocket where his heart was, he felt used. Somehow everybody was using him…yet nothing he wanted was part of it”-This shows Milkman’s desire to leave.
Milkman page 209: “The left one (leg) looked just as long as the other”- this shows how Milkman is evolving.
Magdalene page 210: “When we were little girls… last in this house”- This shows Milkman’s parasitic nature and how women are not as weak as the reader previously thought.
Milkman page 279: “He thought he heard himself…to take another breath”- Milkman has died and is reborn as a man.
Your reactions/ reader responses (note personal reactions to any of the above categories, or any other element of the reading experience): I think the part where Henry pulls an R. Kelly is very funny. This book is really deep and after thinking about it some details seem important. The height of the green bag for instance represents how gold was never in Milkman’s world until now. The reader also experiences Milkman’s entire life which is very good. The thing that I HATE was the CLIFFHANGER ending.
Notable literary devices present in work and how they contribute to meaning:
Biblical Allusions- The names add a a history to the person and also foreshadow. Hagger was named for Abraham’s maid, Hagger, who bore his children but received no love from him.
Symbols- Symbols magnify the meaning of the work. Gold is something that people love but here is a sign of evil.
Flashbacks- The flashbacks are great in that they provide background information that eventually helps the reader understand what happens. The reader realizes that the song is a history of milkman’s life along with Milkman.
Title: Song of Solomon
Year of publication: 1977
Author: Toni Morrison
Author Bio: Toni Morrison (born as Chloe Anthony Wofford) was born on February 18 1931 in Lorain, Ohio to George and Rahmah Wofford, sharecroppers from Alabama and Georgia. She is the second child of four and graduated from Lorain High School. After high school Morrison attended Howard University where she obtained a bachelor’s in English. She then got her masters at Cornell University. She worked at many historically black colleges/universities (one of which was her alma mater, Howard) and even worked for Random House (a publishing company). She later went on to marry Harold Morrison, a Jamaican architect. The couple had two children but unfortunately split in 1965. She said that after the divorce she felt free. She has published many novels among them are her first book The Bluest Eyes, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. Song of Solomon won The National Critics Circle Award and The Letters Award and Beloved won a Pulitzer Prize. She also broke history when she became the first African-American to win a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Setting and time period: Song of Solomon is set in an unknown city in Michigan, Shalimar Virginia and Danville Pennsylvania. It takes place between 1931 and 1963 (including the flashbacks)
Genre of Novel (Historical Fiction, Bildungsroman, etc): The Novel is a bildungsroman (coming of age story), an adventure and an epic. Throughout the story we see Milkman progress from an emotionally “dead” child to the flying man he is at the end. It is also categorized as magical realism.
http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/MagicalRealism.html-for help with magical realism
http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/margin/nonficPendery.html-magical realism in Song of Solomon
Theme statements (and "central questions"):
Flight as a means of Escape- Flight is the important theme in the novel. As Jake flies away from the cotton fields he escapes slavery and goes towards freedom. Milkman describes Pilate as the only character who can fly without having to lift her feet off the ground (She is completely free from the confinements of society).
The disastrous effects of the Abandonment of women are a key theme in the novel. Hagar was abandoned by Milkman which led to her mental deterioration. Ruth Foster was abandoned by her husband, she eventually lose contact with her womanhood. Ryna was pushed to a tragic ending when her husband, Jake, left abandoned her.
Primary characters (name/ relationships/ job/ key traits):
Macon “Milkman” Dead- Milkman is the protagonist of the Novel. he is tall but his left leg is shorter than his right, something is wrong with him. He works with his father as a money collector. His multiple names represent his character. When he was called Macon Dead III he was emotionally “Dead”. He was stuck in the past, never looking ahead. Then when he was given the name Milkman it poked at his inability to be on his own. Like a milkman he will feed on others and never himself. Then near the end his name is symbolically changed when he was finally free, he flew. Throughout the book Milkman is a parasitic man who has little to no emotions. He does not care about others; to him they are tools to be used when needed. He changes when he begins to take responsibility (become an adult). Milkman has had multiple relationships with females. One with Hagar shows his parasitic nature but then the relationship with Sweet shows his new side, someone who shows actual emotions. This emotional transition follows the coming of age story that the novel is.
Pilate Dead- Pilate is the only strong woman in the novel. She does not need a man to be complete like the other women; all she needs is for her daughters to be happy. In the novel she is described a tall, so tall that even the men have to look up at her. When Reba’s man had hit her Pilate took a knife and almost killed him. She was sixty and the man was twenty, she is definitely different. Pilate is the only free character, she is happy with a life where she is poor. Pilate is happy being poor but also being able to do what she wants. She is a bootlegger but in a time when prohibition is outlawed she doesn’t make much money. Pilate also have one important feature, she has no naval. The lack of a belly-button signifies that Pilate is different; she is not like other people. This also shows that Pilate has had the same racism that Macon Jr. and Milkman did (if not worse). Her name is a biblical allusion to Pilate, the man who killed Jesus but it does not describe her. Due to her inability to harm others the name Pilate doesn’t suit her. Pilate is more of a moral “pilot”.
Ruth Foster-Ruth was the daughter of the only black doctor but when she got married it all changed. Ruth becomes a typical passive house wife. She loses all power and becomes a docile character. She is married to Macon Dead Jr. and is sexually deprived which leads her to breastfeed milk well past infancy (this gives him his nickname)She was said to have an intimate relationship with her father but later disproves that, due to the narration of the story it is hard to tell if she really did.
Macon Dead Jr.- Macon Jr. is a spineless, narcissistic, conniving bum. He cares only for money, so much so that people can die only if he gets their money. Like Milkman he is emotionally “dead” but there is some emotion deep down. Macon Jr. love his father, Jake. Jake was a farmer and owned a big farm in Danville. Macon Jr. wanted to be his father in this sense.
Guitar Bains- he is Milkman’s best friend, he is Milkman’s Tommy (Rugrats). He was care free and mischievous but soon becomes hateful (now he is Milkman’s Snape). He blames whites for all that is evil. In his effort to balance the scales he actually makes things worse. His last name suggests that he is a bane for both Milkman and whites. He is a member of the group “Seven Days” vigilante group.
Secondary characters (brief identifications):
Macon Dead I/Jake- he is Milkman’s grandfather. He was dropped during solomons flight and was left in the care of Heddy. He married Sing, moved to Danville and owned a farm. He died trying to protect what was his.
Freddie- he is a janitor and the town gossip.
Hagger- Hagger is Milkman’s first love. She goes insane when Milkman dumps her and eventually dies she is also Pilates granddaughter.
Reba- Reba is Pilate’s daughter. She is said to be very lucky and has a thing for abusive men.
Henry Porter (AKA R. Kelly)- Henry is the man who pulled a R. Kelly. He is a member of “Seven Days” and First Corinthians’ boyfriend.
First Corinthians- First Corinthians is Milkman’s sister. She has a relationship with Henry Porter (AKA R. Kelly)
Magdalene Dead- Lena (her nickname) is Milkman’s other sister.
Ryna- She is Jake’s mother. She was mentally unstable after Solomon left.
Solomon- he is one of the flying Africans. He is Jakes father. He dropped Jake in his flight back to Africa.
Sweet- Sweet is a prostitute who has a relation with Milkman. She receives Milkman’s love.
Singing Bird- Singing Bird is referred as Sing. She is Jakes wife. she died after giving birth to Pilate.
Notable structural, literary and stylistic techniques: Song of Solomon is written in chronological order but is filled with many flashbacks. The story is written in third person with an omniscient narrator. It includes a lot of biblical allusions and symbolism.
Symbols:
Whiteness- this symbolizes violence and death. Freddie life was ruined when a white bull killed his mother. Circe’s white employers are murderers and the white peacock causes Milkman and Guitar’s fascination with gold.
Artificial Roses- This symbolizes fake love. It is no mistake that Milkman was born after these roses fell.
Snow- Snow represents purity but its white color could foreshadow the difficulty of Milkman’s life.
Gold- Gold is the embodiment of greed. Guitar attempts to kill Milkman for gold. Gold gets Milkman and Guitar arrested.
Tone: The tone starts out neutral but becomes ominous and is finally happy.
Major conflicts (in abstract terms, with resolutions):
Man v. Self- Internal conflict occurs when Milkman is fighting with his thoughts about who he is. The conflict is resolved when he learns about Solomon and that he (Milkman) can fly.
Man v. Man- Milkman and Guitar are enemies. It is never really resolved.
Key scenes (turning points, resolutions, climaxes--inc. page #'s):
Climax- In page 252 Milkman realizes that there is no gold. At this point he is unsure of what to do next.
Turning Point- In page 120 Milkman realizes that he wants to leave. Milkman needs to become his own man. This starts his quest for the gold which eventually leads to him learning about his past.
Climax- In page 337 Milkman and Guitar have their final altercation. All the suspense builds up to this point.
Resolution- In pages 303-304 Milkman realizes that he wants to know more about his history. This closes the conflict and begins the ending.
Key quotations (annotate: identify speaker, situation, and relevance--inc. page #'s):
Milkman page 165: “Deep down in that pocket where his heart was, he felt used. Somehow everybody was using him…yet nothing he wanted was part of it”-This shows Milkman’s desire to leave.
Milkman page 209: “The left one (leg) looked just as long as the other”- this shows how Milkman is evolving.
Magdalene page 210: “When we were little girls… last in this house”- This shows Milkman’s parasitic nature and how women are not as weak as the reader previously thought.
Milkman page 279: “He thought he heard himself…to take another breath”- Milkman has died and is reborn as a man.
Your reactions/ reader responses (note personal reactions to any of the above categories, or any other element of the reading experience): I think the part where Henry pulls an R. Kelly is very funny. This book is really deep and after thinking about it some details seem important. The height of the green bag for instance represents how gold was never in Milkman’s world until now. The reader also experiences Milkman’s entire life which is very good. The thing that I HATE was the CLIFFHANGER ending.
Notable literary devices present in work and how they contribute to meaning:
Biblical Allusions- The names add a a history to the person and also foreshadow. Hagger was named for Abraham’s maid, Hagger, who bore his children but received no love from him.
Symbols- Symbols magnify the meaning of the work. Gold is something that people love but here is a sign of evil.
Flashbacks- The flashbacks are great in that they provide background information that eventually helps the reader understand what happens. The reader realizes that the song is a history of milkman’s life along with Milkman.